As far as I’m concerned there is no self-respecting negro who would want to be out in the middle of nowhere, close the the mountains in the dead of winter.

So what does that say about me that I am?

I blame Anika for this. I had to become friends with the one sista who actually liked winter sports. She’s been begging me since last year to come to this resort with her. I refused then. I didn't want to go trekking in the snow to get to work, what made her think I wanted to for fun?

Anika dangled ice-skating on an actual pond surrounded by beautiful scenery as if that was supposed to do something. In her defense, I adored nature so while I did find the resort to be breathtakingly beautiful, I wish I was at home enjoying it from a postcard or a nature documentary. Even the large pond surrounded by nothing but trees would be a photo on the desktop of my computer. And yes, I like ice-skating...but at a bloody rink. In the dead of summer I could layer up my sweaters and feel some warmth while skating for hours.

That was fun.

This was not.

Be that as it may,I reluctantly caved. But if I was going to be outside in the middle of winter I need to prepare. People, I went out and brought long-johns for this. I’ve never owned one in my life and I was low-key upset I spent X dollars for something that would only be used for this week but at least I was moderately warm.

Which leads me back to my original statement.

I apparently have no cold gene whatsoever. I was wearing long johns under my pants, two sweaters under my winter coat, and thick gloves as my winter ensemble. The only reason I wore my one pair of socks instead of two was because I needed to get my feet into these ice skates. My boots had enough room for me to wear two pairs of socks, which I generally did. My wig, that I refuse to commit a name to and that I called a hairpiece, was a short mushroom framing my face. It doubled as fashion and a hat, not that I was trying to be cute right now. However that didn’t negate the fact that I was wearing a hat on top of all that as well as a face mask with a scarf so that I breathed as less cold as possible.

All this and I swore I was still cold.

Watching Anika zip around the ice frozen pond, with the hair of her wig she named Alexandria, whipping behind her and sparkling dark eyes, did make me smile. I was glad she was having fun.

I heard a “Weeee” before I saw her. Anika whipped so fast by me that all I saw was her hair as I did for the umpeeth time that afternoon.

It didn’t even phase me even when she spoke, “Vicki, go faster!!”

I was barely able to yell before she was too far away again. It didn’t help that my face was muffled by my face mask, “Ain’t you dizzy yet?”

However she must have heard me because I heard a: “Nope!!”

I shook my head. I concentrated occasionally glancing at the ice below that passed me by. I suppose to those that didn’t know that I could keep balance and skate would think that I was a newbie. However, it wasn’t that, it was just I was lowkey worried that the pond would suddenly give out.

The only comfort that I had was that the resort we were in, took safety seriously as they had several people patrolling around in the snow around the pond, keeping an eye on everything. I snorted. So they were like life-guards for the snow/ice rink. The resort wasn’t that far from the pond, but if something happened it paid to have them around. Yet still, I watched and listened for anything out of the ordinary as long as I was out here.

“Vicki, you go faster than that at the rink”, Anika said as she whipped by me again.

This time however she turned and stopped, taking a breather as she waited for me to skate up. “The ice isn’t going to break. Relax! You aren’t this nervous at a ice-rink.”

“That’s because this is a pond underneath.”, I grumbled.

And the girl just had to tap her ice skates on top of it just to prove a point. I just glared at her, my eyes narrowing. She took a relaxed pose, cocking her head and raising both hands palm upward with an innocent shrug. The ball of her beanie cocked to one side as well.

However she skated to my side and stopped. I took this moment to pause as well. I saw the impish grin on her face and knew she was getting ready to annoy me again. My eyes narrowed. Seriously I’m still regretting wearing my contacts and not my glasses. The cold seemed to eat away at my eyes, as the wind whipped into them as we skated. But, I was paranoid that if I wore my glasses they would find a way to break. So I was glad to stop for a moment even knowing I’m probably not going to like what comes out of Anika’s mouth next.

“Soo, you aren’t thinking about those freak accidents, are you?” she asked.

I just raised an eyebrow and she elbowed me, yet I only felt the vibration of her pushing into my coat than her elbow itself.

“Ahh, you know. When they were building this place, the crew met up with two accidents that summer. Thankfully no one was hurt. And then just before this place opened, in December there were people here to put the finishing decorations on and a snowstorm just appeared out of nowhere they said. The weather didn’t even say anything about a snow storm coming. It fell a tree that used to be close to the resort making it fall straight into the roof. Because of that, they had to open a little later in winter than normal.”

I just stared at her as she wagged her eyes and produced a bit of a horror voice. After she finished I politely skated off. I could hear her giggle behind me before she caught up.

“A tree. Like that one…” she pointed out to a tall oak tree.

“I know what a tree is.”

“Or….could it be about the accident involving the owner’s brother?” she asked.

When I said nothing she continued, “The one that fell through the ice? Vicki, you shouldn’t worry about that. It was the beginning of winter and the ice hadn’t nearly hardened like it is now. It’s the middle of February. It’ll be fine!”

She waved her hands elbowing me again, “So it wouldn’t have anything to do with any of that would it?”

I stopped then and rolled my eyes, “You know I don’t believe in hauntings and whatnot, if that is what you are trying to imply.”

“Neither do I!” she waved her hands, “But you have to admit. It’s quite a bit much. Almost as if something doesn’t want us here. Whatever it is.”

“I’d be happy to oblige.” I stated with a shrug, “Just let a sista know.”

She grabbed my arm and shook her head, her curls shaking into her face, “Noo-no. We good. Let’s skate!! Let’s skate.” she said, pulling me along, dropping the conversation quickly.

I smirked.

While I didn't believe in haunting and such, part of me wondered if nature was trying to tell them something. Why plop a resort in the middle of this postcard world was beyond me but who was I to have an opinion about it now I guess.

I was here.

As Anika left me in the dust again, I skated past a tall oak tree. Reflectively, I looked up at it as I was skating towards it. Then I saw it.

A white bird.